Event #31 - Memorial Day Dash

For the 3rd year in a row we spent our Memorial Day morning running the Memorial Day Dash! We've grown to really love this race and its a great way to start the day! The race always starts with the National Anthem being played while everyone turns and faces the giant flag that flies at Ft. Negley. This is probably one of the more challenging courses that we have run on - its fairly hilly, especially at the beginning, with not just steep but long hills too!

We had a couple of goals for this race. First, to finish under 30:00 and second, to try and break our time from this race last year. We started out pretty strong and by the time we got to the big hill we felt great. And as a bonus, at the top of the hill, we still felt great (thank you Crossfit CFT). We kept a steady pace throughout the race (hills? what hills?) and that helped us to accomplish both of our goals easily!

Here are the official results:

129th place - Nate Towne - 27:53
144th place - Sara Towne - 28:21

Those times are the 2nd best times EVER for both of us, which is pretty exciting. Also, Nate improved his time from this race last year by 2 minutes and 11 seconds while I was able to knock 3 minutes and 8 seconds off my time from last year! We were happy to see the improvements are excited for our upcoming races! We've got a couple of races coming up in the next month (check the calendar over there ---->), and are continuing to run in hopes of finding a cure for Prostate (and other) Cancer. If you'd like to donate to the cause, we would be thrilled to have your support!

GOOOO G SHOCK! We will leave you with a few photos from this weekend's race!

Before the race!

After!  

When we can't take pictures with mascots, 

I make Nate do funny things...like stretch his hammies :) 

Someday this will be me breaking the tape at a race! ;)

Race tomorrow!

Tomorrow, on Memorial Day, we will run our 31st race! Hard to believe it. We will have updates next week on how we did, but wanted to wish each of you a Happy Memorial Day! We hope that you get to enjoy some fun in the sun with family and friends. And please take a moment to remember and honor the soldiers, alive and fallen, who have made these days possible. I am especially thankful for my favorite Veteran - my Dad! This race is for you!

Big Announcements!

Well, you were promised announcements, so we've got two for you! As some of you know, I turned the big 3-0 back in February. As you also might know (or remember), 30 was a big barrier that we worked hard to get past here at Team G Shock. It took lots of miles and hard work, but when Nate & I finally broke 30:00 in a 5k (Nate first, then me), it was pretty exciting. Starting with race 30, and continuing on as long as we continue Team G Shock (forever?), Nate &; I will work to run 5k races with times under 30:00 at all times. In addition to that, as usual, we will work to set new PR's along the way. We're excited to see what we can do in the future with our training at Crossfit CFT and the races we run.

Our second announcement is a big one. When we originally started Team G Shock, we set a goal to raise $1,500 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Since that time (almost 3 years ago), we have not only met that goal, but have raised it and continue to meet almost every fundraising goal we set. And we've done it with the support of our family, friends and other cancer fighters we've met along the way. We're going to keep running races (and running them faster!) as long as we can keep raising money to help. Every cent will go towards finding a cure for prostate cancer, and then hopefully all cancers. So (drumroll please), our new and improved Team G Shock fundraising goal is...

$10,000!!!

We're more than halfway there already, so we know we can do it! It won't be quick or easy, but we'll get there. If you're interested in donating, check out our donation page (and tell your friends!). You can also go to the DONATE tab at the top of the page to get there. Any donation will help us get to our goal - $1, $5, $10 or more, so bring it on!

If you want to run with us, we'd love to have you in Team G Shock gear running beside us. Just let us know what races you want to join in on, or if you have ideas for other races we could run!

Thank you all for the support over these last 3 years. We're looking forward to raising more awareness and money for the PCF in the coming years! GOOOO G SHOCK!

And Another One!

As Spring heats up and makes room for Summer, our race calendar is steadily filling up! We ran our 30th race a couple of weeks ago, and have 3 more on the calendar already between now and July 1st. The newest addition is the Dash For Dad right here in Nashville. We've run this race before (races 8, 13 and 27) and always have a good time. It was previously known as the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge, and it is usually held in September (which happens to be Prostate Cancer Awareness Month). But this year, the Nashville race has been moved to downtown and to Father's Day Weekend! We set PR's during this race last year, so we'll have to see how we do this time around. The course we will be running is much hillier than past years, so that will be a fun challenge!

Before we get to that race we have the Memorial Day Dash to look forward to on May 28th! We also have a couple of announcements coming to the blog soon so be sure to come back and check those out!

Event #30 - Girls On The Run 5k

This past Saturday, we took to our favorite local course (Shelby park) for the Girls On The Run 5k. As I mentioned on Friday, I had been sick the few days leading up to the race so I wasn't sure what to expect. Lucky for us it rained that morning so the temperature at the start was not as hot as it could have been, which helped everyone.

Its always fun to run alongside the young kids who have been training all year for this race. We also ran into our friend (and my coworker), Sam near the start of the race, and it was fun to run with her along the way.

Nate & I started out running together, but I started feeling a little off during the run which slowed me down, so Nate went ahead, and its a good thing he did. He set a new PR and placed 2nd in his age group! I did not have the same luck, but I did keep my time under 30, which I'll have more about on another day.

Here are our official times:

87th place - Nate Towne - 27:39
120th place - Sara Towne - 29:33

And we were able to get some fun photos after the race...

We were running a little late so this is our after the race "before" picture.

The official "after" picture.

Me & Sam

Sam & Nate with their valuable prizes :) 

Sam got 3rd in her age group, and Nate placed 2nd in his!

I didn't win an age group prize, but I did win 

a door prize of some fancy socks!

My brother, Geoff, and his girlfriend Adrienne also ran a race on Saturday for Team G Shock. They ran the Manassas City Police Association Memoral 5k, and are giving us a run for our money on times. We've got some running to do to catch them! Here are their results:

32nd place - Geoff Ross - 24:34
47th place - Adrienne Helms - 26:01

And as usual, here is a photo to go with the times!

Geoff & Adrienne at the race

We're filling up our calendar with races and will keep you updated on those! GOOOO G SHOCK!!

Tomorrow We Race!

Its been a while, but tomorrow we will be running our 30th race! I caught a bug this week and was knocked down a bit, but have been resting up so we're ready to go.

My brother Geoff and his girlfriend Adrienne are running a race up in VA tomorrow too and I have been promised a photo so we will have updates on that as well next week!

Wish us luck - goooo G Shock!